Isaac Haxton Hits $5 Million First as PokerGO’s U.S. Poker Open Nears Conclusion

The PokerGO Tour’s U.S. Poker Open is drawing to a close, but not before some of the game’s biggest names, including Isaac Haxton, etched their names in the record books. 

Haxton has been on a tear this year. The American pro won $423,000 on April 1 after beating Joey Weissman heads-up in Event No. 8 at the U.S. Poker Open. 

Winning the $25,000 tournament gave Haxton his second PokerGO Tour (PGT) title of 2023 and made him the first player to win $5 million this year.

Isaac Haxton Running Hot in 2023

Haxton’s winning run started on Jan. 20 when he took down the $50,000 PokerGO Cup event for $598,000. From there, he traveled to the Bahamas and cashed four times at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. Among those cashes were two outright wins in $100K events for a combined payout of $2.6 million. 

Five deep runs at the Triton Super High Roller Series in Vietnam followed, before it was back to the U.S. for the latest PokerGO Tour festivals. The online poker legend took sixth in Event No. 7 of the PGT PLO series and then got a win at the U.S. Poker Open. That run puts Haxton’s 2023 total at $5.1 million and counting. 

For context, 2023 is now his second-best year in terms of tournament prize money. His best was in 2018 when he won $8.1 million. Given that it’s only April and we’ve got the World Series of Poker coming up, there’s a good chance Haxton could beat his previous record and become one of the year’s biggest winners. 

Stars Shine at PokerGO Tour US Poker Open

Haxton may have won the race to $5 million in prize money this year, but he’s not been the only big winner in Las Vegas. With players from around the world anteing up at the Aria, a variety of famous pros have won U.S. Poker Open titles in recent days. 

Darren Elias bested a field of 87 players on April 1 to win $313,200, closely followed by Dan Smith, who won Event No. 9 on Monday for $399,500. Also running hot at this year’s PokerGO Tour U.S. Poker Open was Phil Hellmuth. 

The self-styled Poker Brat finished 12th in Event No. 3 before winning Event No. 5 for $211,200. He continued his winning run a few days later in Event No. 8, finishing in fifth for $108,000.

The U.S. Poker Open will conclude in the early hours of April 5. One player will win Event No. 10, the $50,000 finale, and $666,000. The conclusion of the final event will also determine the Player of the Series and the winner of the Golden Eagle Trophy.